A full-time professional squad like Doncaster’s is not supposed to lose at home, and certainly not in consecutive games, in which the Knights have not been good enough to earn any league points at all against Nottingham and now London Scottish.

After their much-praised triumph against the champions at Ealing Trailfinders a week ago, coaches and supporters and no doubt the players too were expecting another outstanding performance on the team’s return to Castle Park.

Sadly, the squad - which has the ambition to win the Championship and compete in the promotion play-offs - failed to deliver and wasted several scoring opportunities, either through handling errors or conceding penalties when the forwards, it seemed, were about to smash a solid London Scottish defence.

Doncaster’s coaches, led by Sir Ian McGeechan and Joe Ford, who’ve seen the club fall to ninth in the league on 10 points – 10 behind leaders Coventry and five behind next Saturday’s opponents Bedford in third – are understandably frustrated and will try to rectify weaknesses this week, starting Monday.

Doncaster Knights Fred Davies carries the ball against London Scottish (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

Ford said: "It’s concerning and we need to get to the bottom of it today because we can’t just be a team that gets up for the big games and then struggle at home.

“We looked clueless at times and had no energy. I didn’t see this result coming and I’m lost for words. Scottish were brilliant and we were a completely different team to the one which beat Ealing.”

Doncaster have played four games with two victories and two losses, so the Championship campaign is still in its infancy, but given the strength of the squad and the fact they are the only ones who are able off the field to secure promotion to the Premiership, why are Ampthill, Scottish, Nottingham, Hartpury and Chinnor above them in the league?

Scottish – who have a dual-registration deal with Harlequins – scored two tries on 20 and 41 minutes and a conversion by the former Doncaster fly-half, Alec Lloyd-Seed.

George Wacokecoke of Doncaster Knights is held up by determined London Scottish defence (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

They were far more creative, enterprising and sharper, but their unexpected win owed so much to their stubborn defence which kept out Doncaster’s forwards, among whom Thom Smith, Morgan Strong and Rhys Tait, stood out.

Centre Connor Edwards was competitive too, but it was surprising that Doncaster’s potential match winners in the backs, Jordan Olowofela, George Wacokecoke and Maliq Holden saw so little of the ball.

The Knights had more than enough possession to win, but were careless, throwing away chances before the interval and then later in the second half as their pack attacked the posts another four promising positions were spoiled by mistakes.

'We were clueless': Doncaster Knights unable to marry promotion ambition on and off the field in defeat to London Scottish